


A Visible Echo

by goldengoddess



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: F/F, Kissing, gratuitous biblical imagery, literally theres no way this ship has only 4 fics., theyre in love okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-11 13:11:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11149113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldengoddess/pseuds/goldengoddess
Summary: “Are you leaving?” she asked.“Would you like me to?”“No, not at all.”





	A Visible Echo

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys school just got out so that means its time 4 the most productive season of the year... anyways i just recently played mgs3 as my first mgs game and like..... im gay??? and i love the boss???? and none of my friends have played/know anything about the series so im venting thru This.  
> anyways i really hope to write another fic for this ship soon like............ we need more content  
> i hope you enjoy it!!! even if i cant remember the actual locations of stuff in groznyj grad lol  
> (no beta btw)  
> oh oh also the title is from mark doty's "verge" which is literally my favorite poem on earth go check him out please!!!

She didn’t expect the mission to go like this. But who would have? Who would have guessed that the living legend hidden away among secret operations was just that: a god, a legend. Eva felt the spirit with every touch of her shoulder, every knowing glance. She prayed to God for strength and that she would be able to end this fast; leaving Volgin’s room a mess was running her to frays, and leaving the jungle to the cold metal compound of Groznyj Grad was worth pulling her hair out. She prayed to God for mercy from the soft outline of The Boss’s lips, the angle of her broad shoulders, her calloused hands strong and wide that tied her hair up with the same kind of practiced ease she had while firing an assault rifle. Eva thought she had had it with Snake, but he was more of a preoccupation than the hope that sat at the bottom of her heart. 

Eva woke suddenly, without warning. There were no windows in her cell, and the lights wouldn’t turn off and on. Permanent incandescent burned the back of her eyes as she dressed quickly, the sound of heavy footsteps creeping up the hallway. A knock at her door came just as she ripped a knot on her boot. “Come in.”

“Good morning.” said Ocelot. Eva, now Tatyana, almost heaved a sigh of relief. Under her new personality, she fumbled blindly for the glasses on her night stand. “You have business in the East wing.”

“The East Wing?” she asked. 

“That’s what I just said. C’mon.” He grabbed her arm as she swiped the glasses off the table. Despite the small comfort that Ocelot was not someone worse, the immediate turn into the hall brought her face to  _ him _ . 

“Christ.”

“What’s that?” Volgin chuckled.  

“Let’s get going.” Ocelot pushed through the hulk of a man, taking Eva along with him. The East wing, that’s where the science research was kept, wasn’t it? Why would they be bringing a prisoner there? The hair on Eva’s neck rose as a burst of cold air hit them, the brightness of the sun a different kind of pain from the everlasting light bulbs. 

“Where are we going?” Eva asked, her voice small against the roaring wind.

“Don’t worry, doll, there’s nothing scary.” Volgin smiled past the scar. Something in Eva made her want to retch. 

“The Boss wants to see you.” Answered Ocelot. “She wants your opinion.”

“My opinion?” The question came without thought, no deliberate act to seem tiny and hopeless was in her voice. Ocelot looked over his shoulder with an odd look. 

Inside the warehouse wasn’t much warmer, with the ceilings as high as the clouds, and the walls as far apart at the mountain range they were safely tucked into, they might as well have built the metal gear in open air. In her black coat, The Boss turned to face the men and Eva with an expression as stone cold as the building. 

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, ma’am.” Eva said, eyes trained to the floor. A moment of silence passed before The Boss began her quiet talk of the future of their mission. There were outposts being taken down as they spoke, and likely more to come. An attack in the future would be imminent if they did not reinforce their men now. She needed to sneak out and warn Snake of this, although it was not unreasonable that he had already guessed they would be buffing up their defense. After all, he had already come head to head with Ocelot and Volgin before. And, of course, the Boss. 

“What do you think?”

“Sorry, ma’am?” She blinked from behind the glasses.

“I said, what did you think? Do you think the Americans know enough of our weapon to reproduce it? You worked with Sokolov yourself.”

She nodded, “I- yes, I think- well, no, I don’t believe they have enough intel. It’s unlikely they could reverse engineer it, ma’am.” 

The Boss seemed neither pleased nor displeased, only flashing a glare at Volgin as he laughed, “Did they really think they could chip away at us with only one man?”

“One man can do a lot.” Ocelot muttered. 

Eva looked up at the Boss. “You two are dismissed- Tatyana, may I talk to you?” 

“Don’t go soft just because she’s the only other woman around.” Volgin warned, walking backwards as Ocelot beelined out of the massive hall, leaving Eva standing with her heels locked together. A metal screech and clunk finalized their company, the whole world seeming empty for a moment. 

“It’s hard being alone in a strange place.” The Boss spoke to no one. 

“Russia is my home.” Eva said.

“Of course.” the Boss waved it off, turning back to face the monster whose home this was. The Boss was petite by no measure, but was immeasurably dwarfed standing here, black coat against brown metal. She looked apart of the creature, like she was bolted to the floor of the building, as if she never belonged to any other allegiance than war. Eva couldn’t imagine her as a child, there was no civilian left inside her. “Tatyana, I-” The Boss looked at her before shaking her head, “You have a lot of work to do.”

 

\---

 

The moon was brighter than any sun in the day. Eva slipped behind shadows and into the corridors she had begun to know too well. Snake was safe, for now, and although the meetings were mostly impersonal, she knew she was beginning to feel something for him, something like fear. Who exactly was he to kill while here? She supposed she could just ask him, but she was keeping up a mysterious act, even if he couldn’t care less for it.

A guard coughed and then sniffed, making Eva skirt to the corner before sliding into the door, finally inside. Only two left turns and she would sit down on the cot and try to get some rest, it was a thirty foot final stretch.

Two men were talking down the last hallway. Eva silently cursed and waited for them to pass, but they weren’t moving. However, a new pair of shoes entered the corridor, coming nearer and nearer to Eva. She couldn’t switch walls to press against, the men by her door would see her, so she slunk back to the entrance under the dead lights and hoped the person was not on guard. If she was caught here, so close to her room, she’d scream, and then be killed. The steps grew louder and then stopped, down the end of the hallway, a light flickering, a moth fluttering. 

Eva blinked. Time slowed down as The Boss turned her head to make perfect eye contact with her, shrouded in darkness. She nodded at Eva, and then walked forward. “Men, what are we doing here?”

Eva tiptoed along the wall. “We were instructed to do so, ma’am.” she heard them break into a salute, feet crashing against the floor in synchronicity. 

“By whom?”

“Colonel Volgin, ma’am.”

She stepped to the corner and held her breath, poking just far enough out to see the guards had their backs to the door. Eva thanked God and The Boss and slipped in, not minding the small clasping noise the door made as it reconnected with the frame. She threw off her boots and glasses and jacket and laid down, just as the door opened again.

“There she is,” The Boss said, “Right where you need her.”

“She-she-” The guard stammered. Eva rubbed her eyes as she sat up, blinking back the harsh light.

“Very good.” she smiled.

“Am I needed somewhere?” Eva asked innocently. 

The Boss looked at the men. 

“No-no, you’re- no you’re not.” He turned out of the room, followed by the other man, muttering to himself. The door shut again with a cold thunk.

“That was stupid.”

Eva hung her head, “I had-”

“That was stupid, Tatyana.” she whispered.

She grabbed her glasses and felt them in her hands, “I know.” Eva shook her head, “I know.”

In between her words The Boss stepped forward, and sat at the edge of her bed, elbows on her thighs, hands clasped together underneath her chin. Eva stared in disbelief at the image, she looked stony again, like she had always sat that way, like she always would remain there. She began to raise her hand, to set it on her back, but rescinded the movement and bit her lip.

“Thank you.” Eva said.

The Boss’s eyes rose to meet hers and she sucked in air between her teeth. The harsh light accentuated her angles, eyes saturated. She wondered what she was thinking, there was no charge, no motion, nothing for Eva to evaluate, only the blackened rings beneath her eyes and the dull hum of the generators down the hall. She wanted to break the silence, but found herself staring. “You’ll be out of here soon.” The Boss said, the space between them smaller. Eva realized she sat at the edge of a precipice, neither good nor bad. She looked down to find her hands held by The Boss’s, her glasses set aside. In what time had they been taken from here? Where were the seconds flickering away to? Where was the morning in her room, or the night? The time was gone as soon as she recognized it, so she did the only thing she could have done: Eva leaned in for a kiss. 

The Boss met her halfway, reciprocating her timid movements. Timid was not her style, but as The Boss’s hands rose to cup her face, Eva found herself without boundaries- a character of all subtleties and degrees. Her cheeks burned as she let The Boss kiss down her jaw, to her neck, reveling in the instance. She let herself be pushed down onto the cot, hands tangled in the Boss's hair. “Are they- still there?” she asked, dizzy.

“No,” she said into her neck, before drawing away, unhurried. The room was so much colder without The Boss against her, around her. Eva pulled a lock of hair behind The Boss’s ear and pressed another kiss to her lips. 

“Are you leaving?” she asked.

“Would you like me to?”

“No, not at all.”

It was morning now, Eva was sure of it. There would be things to do, roles to play. But here, under The Boss, away from the rest of base was all where she wanted to be. “Thank you,” she mumbled again.

 

\---

The Boss stood above her, a shield against the men. She sat, broken, on the floor, a sense of dread filling the room. Outside the cell, the time of day was clear, a linear progression marked by light and shadow. Here, back in the massive warehouse, Eva blinked, looking up from her position on the floor. The crest of morning broke through the open gates and over the room, the sun too gentle and delicate for the monster and its men. The Boss’s hair glowed gold, her eyes almost unnatural against the halo. Eva took her hand and stood up, hardly glancing at the men as The Boss whispered in her ear. 

She took a deep breath, eyes shut against the world, and followed, praying to God for one last act of mercy. 


End file.
